Tamara Khanum

Tamara Khanum (June 30, 1991, born Tamara Artyemi Petrosyan) was an Uzbek-Soviet dancer, singer, actress, and choreographer. She was honored as a People's Artist of the USSR in 1956 and received the Stalin Prize, second degree, in 1941.

Biography Tamara Petrosyan was born on March 16 (29), 1906, in Margilan (modern day Fergana region in Uzbekistan) (according to other sources, in the village of the Gorchakovo railway station of the Margilan city council). She had Armenian descendants.

From 1919, Khanum performed as part of an Agi brigade under the leadership of Hamza Niyazi.

From 1924 to 1928, Khanum was a soloist in the concert group of M. Kari-Yakubov (from 1926 - concert-ethnographic ensemble, from 1928 - musical-experimental ensemble). From 1925 to 1929, she performed in the musical-drama theaters of Samarkand, Kokand, and Andijan, where she played the roles of Shirin ("Farhad and Shirin" by Khurshid), Gulchehra ("Arshin mal alan" by U. Gadzhibekov), and Halima ("Halima" by G. Zafari). From 1929 to 1934, Khanum worked at the Samarkand Musical-Drama Theater (from 1931 - in Tashkent, reorganized into the Uzbek Musical-Drama Theater).

In 1934-1935, she was one of the organizers, ballet master, dancer, and pedagogical repetiteur of the Khorezm Regional Musical-Drama Theater (now named after Ogahi) in Urgench. From 1936 to 1941, she was a soloist and choreographer at the Uzbek Philharmonic and the State Uzbek Opera and Ballet Theater. She was a member of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) from 1941. She was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR since 1937 and from 1948.

Khanum died on June 30, 1991, in Tashkent, and was buried in the Chigatai Cemetery. Works Khanum was a reformer of the Uzbek female dance style, and she extensively studied the folk songs and dances of various cultures worldwide. She created a genre known as the song-and-dance miniature. In her programs, "Songs and Dances of the Peoples of the USSR" and "Songs and Dances of the Peoples of the World," she performed more than 500 songs in 86 languages, along with choreographic compositions and dances from various cultures.

Her performing arts were known for the special expressiveness of her facial expressions and gestures referred to as "поющие руки". Among the dances she performed were Uzbek dances like "катаугон", "кари наво", "кешауюн", "пиля" and pila, as well as the Khorezm suite, including "дил хроук" and "садр" among others. She also played a role in creating the libretto for the first Uzbek ballet, "Gulandom," by E. G. Brusilovsky, and she performed in her own productions.

Khanum toured internationally, visiting countries such as France (1925), England (1935), Poland (1948), China (1953), Norway (1953), Indonesia (1957), Czechoslovakia (1959), Germany, Iran, Italy, Turkey, India, Mongolia, Pakistan, and more.

Khanum was among the first to showcase Uzbek art abroad at the World Exhibition of Decorative Arts (Paris, 1925).

Family Tamara Khanum's first husband was Mukhitdin Kari-Yakubov (1896-1957), with whom she had a daughter. He was a prominent theatrical figure and a baritone singer, achieving the title of People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR in 1936. Stalin Prize, 2nd class (1941) - for her outstanding performance of Uzbek dances Order of Lenin (26 March 1976) Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class (1985) Five Order of the Red Banner of Labor (31 May 1937, 16 January 1950, 6 December 1951, 18 March 1959, 17 February 1967) Order of the Badge of Honor (1939) Order of Outstanding Merit (Uzbekistan) (22 August 2001) Medal "For Distinguished Labour" Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus" (1943) Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1945) Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (1946) Medal "Veteran of Labor" Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" Military rank of "Captain in the Soviet Army" (1943)

Filmography 1962 - "Песни Тамары" (documentary) - main role

On March 29, 2006, Uzbekistan celebrated the centenary of Tamara Khanum in a festive and commemorative manner. This event recognized her significant contributions to the world of dance and culture.